The other day, community leaders and council chairmen in Charanchi and Batagarawa council areas of Katsina State were forced to make “peace agreements” with terrorists. Surprisingly, the armed men used the occasion to blame the insurgency on the government. One of them said, “If the government wants all this insecurity to end, they have the power to end it, but they don’t want it to end. We don’t have the power or wisdom to bring peace to the country, except through the Nigerian government, because everything is under their control…”

Indeed, the government’s response to terrorism lacks the decisiveness required to uproot the menace. Many times, the government’s pussyfooting betrays complicity. Whereas it is common knowledge that the terrorists have sponsors in and outside government, the government has refused to act on intelligence shared by foreign governments on suspected sponsors. The government should use everything at its disposal to rescue the country from insurgents.

Similarly, the government’s amnesty programme for terrorists is faulty and devoid of global best practices. Deradicalisation must be certified by experts before terrorists are deemed to be repentant. Statistics have shown that the Operation Safe Corridor, used by the army to process returnee terrorists, leaves room for grave errors. Soldiers have complained they have no trust in working with so-called reformed terrorists. Communities have also rejected former terrorists returning home. Trust is crucial in this battle. How can the army trust hardened terrorists, many of whom are not even Nigerians, and when the loyalty of their Nigerian counterparts to the country is in doubt? Some have returned to terrorists’ camps where they came from, often with security information vital to the success of future terror attacks and gravely harmful to counter terrorism strategy.

The political class should be reminded that it has a responsibility to secure the fatherland. The warning that Nigeria could become a failed state if good governance was not prioritised over mediocre performance is as real today as it was when it was first issued many years back. Today, the indices of a failed state are everywhere. Nigeria should not be allowed to fall below the zero level. When terrorists hold meetings in daylight and the government looks the other way rather than smash them, it is a sign of weakness and complicity.

The general election in 2027 cannot be the reason this government is docile. Playing politics with security is like playing with fire. There must first be a country before 2027 can be realistic. Tinubu must genuinely desire to leave Nigeria better than he met it. The country is fast falling apart, and he has a duty to pull it from the brink. The political class must stop valuing self-preservation more than the country’s survival.

As Nigeria takes a negative global stage on insecurity, the newly sworn-in Service Chiefs should rally the forces to end terrorism now. This is the time for the government to do the needful; take the battle to the insurgents and their supporters and rout them once and for all. This is not the time to play politics with the country’s survival. It is unacceptable for terrorists to hold the country or part of it to ransom. Nigerians do not have another country. The government must defend the territorial integrity of their fatherland.

President Tinubu’s charge to the Service Chiefs should serve as a wake-up call to recalibrate strategy for the final defeat of the insurgents. The President said, “We cannot allow the crisis that began in 2009 to persist any longer. I charge you, as heads of our nation’s armed forces, to carry out your duties with patriotic zeal. Nigerians expect results, not excuses. I also urge you to be innovative, pre-emptive and courageous. Let’s stay ahead of those who seek to threaten our peace. Let us deploy technology where necessary.”

Sadly, Nigeria’s peace is already violated, not just threatened. The official coronation of new Service Chiefs should not end up as just another ceremony to substitute officers. Let it be an opportunity to fulfil the government’s most sensitive constitutional task, that of safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country. The 1999 Constitution of Nigeria provides that the security of the people and their welfare are the primary purposes of government.

Against the backdrop of incessant ambushes of Nigerian troops and alleged negative counter orders suddenly given to troops on anti-terrorism missions, the government must discreetly unravel saboteurs, if any, in the security apparatus, and provide a safe environment for the military to operate. There are countless stories of sabotage within the system, complicating counter-insurgency efforts. Nigeria is believed to have lost 2,700 soldiers while fighting terrorism in 12 years. That is a lot. The country cannot afford to lose more. Technology should be deployed to reduce the incidence of human casualties.

Mr President is correct to have observed that the insurgency has lasted far too long. It has taken an unacceptable toll on the country’s military capacity. With not less than 350,000 civilians killed by terrorists over the years, it is time to put a value on human life. The country has wasted hard-earned resources to combat the menace, committing trillions of Naira on insecurity and yet has close to four million people living in internally displaced persons’ camps across the country. Farmers have abandoned communities and farmland to terrorists, with grave implications for food security.

It is troubling that the terrorists threatened to bomb the National Assembly. Considering the grave atrocities being committed by them, the threat should not be taken lightly. It is time to take the fight to them in their bases and eradicate them. Terrorists who have gruesomely decapitated whole families and communities, including women and children, deserve no mercy, and none should be given them.

The military should not be denied the arms they need to finish the job. Let’s also stop playing politics with insecurity. Nigeria is greater than group interests and geopolitical sentiments. Now that the attention of the world is on Nigeria, courtesy of terrorism allowed to fester for years, Nigeria no longer has time to engage in frivolities. Government must deal decisively with terrorists and their backers, no matter how remotely connected. Indeed, no programme of government, political or economic, matters now more than to rid the country of terror. The Service Chiefs must use their tenure to make a difference. It must never be business as usual.
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